“I Built a Career From Deals Made Through TAXI”

— B.Z. Lewis, TAXI Member

Listen to the 8-track demo that started it all:

Wide Open

Listen to the music that Nissan used in their ad:

5th Element

Fantastic Planet

His music has been placed on all the major networks, platinum selling video game titles, 15 independent films, regional and local ad campaigns -- all from contacts made through TAXI. In fact, B.Z. Lewis has used the benefits of his TAXI membership to build a lucrative career.
It all started back in 1997 when "Wide Open" (a song by his band, Sugar Danks) began to get placed in films and TV. A simple but well-recorded demo, "Wide Open" was done with 8 tracks on a 75 MHz computer -- 6 years ago when computer recording was still in its infancy.
"Even though my setup was very simple," say B.Z., "I was able to get a great song and a great recording out of it. As I listen back to the song I realize how much I've grown as an engineer, but I think the mix still holds up today. That song has been in more than 10 films and platinum selling video game titles, and it was the song that launched my career. Armed with nothing more than a computer, some software with a computer I/O and a nice mic, there's no reason not to get a good sounding mix."
Once B.Z.'s well-crafted song demo started attracting attention through TAXI forwards, he made a point of developing good working relationships with music supervisors who had shown interest in his work.
He recently wrote to give us a list of a few of his TAXI victories and placements in the last 2 years:
- He had his music placed in FX's hit drama series "The Shield."
- He continues to have music played on MTV's shows "Live Through This," "Making the Video," "Undressed," and "The Road Home."
- Electronic Arts has used some songs for their "Triple Play" and NHL video game series, and this work has led to doing sound design work for "Alice in Wonderland," "The Sims," and "Freekstyle"
- He recently signed a publishing deal with Media Creature Music, who he met through TAXI.
- Media Creature Music has just placed his songs on three Nissan Ads that are running currently ("Cha-ching!").
"This is just the stuff TAXI is directly responsible for; there are lots of other things I've done because of my lengthy credit list that has come from my relationship with TAXI," Lewis asserts.
As a matter of fact, B.Z. has leveraged his contacts so successfully that we asked him to write on article about that very subject. Check out his tips for "making the most out of a contact from a TAXI forward" in the Tips column of this month's Transmitter.
B.Z. now owns and operates Studio 132, a recording studio in San Francisco, and composes music for film and TV through his company called PopTuna. He lives with wife Margaret and son Max in a suburb of San Francisco.

"The Road Rally was the most productive weekend of my music career."

 Dean Person,
TAXI Member

"I signed a two-song deal with a major Music Library for film and TV."